Maqamat School of Eastern Music

'Maqamat School of Eastern Music' is a professional academic-quality institution of music performance that educates musicians to serve with the highest-level Eastern music ensembles in Israel and abroad. Maqamat also serves as a community and cultural resource center for education, preservation and presentation of Eastern music. The school was founded in 2016 in Tzfat, Israel and has over 100 students between the ages of 18-60, participating in its different programs.

Our Eastern music program is the most in-depth and comprehensive in Israel and equal to recognized international music institutes and departments in our field.
The four main classical traditions taught at the school include: classical Arabic music of the Levant; Turkish Ottoman and Sufi music; North African and Andalusian music (led by Mr. Elad Levy); Persian/Central Asian song and music traditions. Each of these streams include historical Jewish cultural and musical content — including Piyutim (liturgical poetry) and secular song — which are included in the curriculum. Education at Maqamat includes private lessons, theoretical studies and ensemble work in all the traditions plus advanced subjects such as composition and musical production.

We also have an extensive supplementary workshop program with invited teachers and masters from Israel and abroad. Every opportunity is made for real life performance, individually and in groups, in school concerts and recitals, as well as outside events in professional settings. Throughout the year Maqamat teacher and student ensembles appear in festivals, public cultural and private events all around Israel.

Moreover, we develop and participate in programs for children with disabilities, religious women, high school teachers, youth music education, healing with music and more.

Graduates of Maqamat serve as players in all of the professional eastern music orchestras in Israel, regional and national, as band musicians with top performers, in their own creative ensembles as well as public and private teaching programs.

On the professional performance level Maqamat serves as an agency representing several musical acts developed or associated with Maqamat school. Maqamat Eastern Orchestra is our flagship performance offering. Under the musical direction of Elad Levi (head of the North African music department), consisting of 10-15 graduates of Maqamat and several of the top current students. Material is drawn fro the range of Eastern classical traditions performed in contemporary arrangements in a creative fusion across musical cultures. Also available are smaller ensembles that specialize in one or more specific traditions, as well as professional ensembles led by individual members of the faculty.